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Month: February 2012

In January we brought you word of a possible Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing sequel, then earlier this month Kotaku also heard about it at a Toy Fair in New York where toys based on the game were on show. Well, it appears those toys were also on private show at the London Toy Fair in January and are from the same toy range Meccano announced that month.

Toyworld Magazine reports that Meccano’s Sonic toy collection features Sonic and Knuckles alongside their respective vehicles from Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing with Green Hill Zone and Casino Night Zone added value play-sets also revealed to be on the way. Could this mean that these two levels will be included as tracks in the game’s sequel? SEGA often tie-in merchandise with their games to maximise sales, so it would be odd for them to not continue that trend.

Meccano’s Sonic the Hedgehog collection includes Sonic and Speedstar and Knuckles and Landbreaker, plus a range of added value play-sets; Sonic and Ramp Green Hill Play-set and Sonic and Casino Night Environment Play-set.

Atlus Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Index Holdings, has entered a distribution contract with Sega in Japan which allows the developer to take advantage of Sega’s wider distribution network, which is quite an advantage for the smaller developer. This however does not apply to digitally distributed titles. The deal will take effect in April (Spring) 2012. All Altus titles published will now carry the Sega logo on game covers. Currently this does not effect other subsidiaries of Atlus or Index Corp. outside of Japan.

Atlus is well-known for the Shin Megami Tensei series, its spin offs including Digital Devil Saga, Persona, and Devil Survivor, as well the recently-released Catherine.

9 Feb: SEGA reveals new concept art of Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II, featuring the piranha (badnik) “Chop Chop”.
10 Feb: Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (3DS) is released in Europe.
12 Feb: A sequel to Sonic and SEGA All Stars Racing is in development. It will be released for Nintendo 3DS, PSVita and WiiU at the end of 2012.
14 Feb: Valentines Day. Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games is released in North America.

Courtesy of forum user RGamer2009, Sega of America has recently launched their digital download store to make it easy for people to locate SEGA titles for purchase through their own website. Currently the store only offers a line up of PC titles, including DLC, with no known plans for other platforms. The games can either be downloaded through Sega’s website, or if it’s noted, will give you a Steam key to activate on Steam instead. In addition, a network connection is usually required to activate your games online. This means that most, if not all titles, will have DRM enforced. This includes a limit as to how many times a game can be activated, and you must contact Sega directly to gain more activation codes.

With most of the legal hoopla out of the way, some of the games you can expect on the service include Steam activated titles such as Sonic Generations, Renegade Ops, and Football Manager 2012. In addition are non-Steam activated titles including Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing, House of the Dead 2, and of course your usual suspects of Sega Genesis Classic Collections.

There are a few problems with some of the store’s game specifications and logistics. For example, at the time of this writing, House of the Dead 2 was given a rating of Early Childhood. Plus the Sonic 20th Anniversary Pack which includes six Mega Drive/Genesis related Sonic games is offered for $29.99 compared to Sonic Mega Collection Plus, which is also readily available with six Game Gear games, comic book covers, illustrations and more for $9.99. Still, an interesting move to combine games sold through Steam as well as bringing back a handful of respectable PC ports through one service.